Boulder Valley schools not expecting to restore budget cuts

Restoring budget cuts likely isn't in the cards for the Boulder Valley School District in the upcoming school year, despite a recently approved tax increase.

Instead, the money earmarked to add back support staff members at schools and address other cuts likely will be needed to avoid additional cost-saving measures, district officials told the school board at a work session Tuesday.

The new budget outlook is based on the grim picture presented Tuesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper at a meeting of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee.

Based on numbers provided by the Colorado Department of Education, Boulder Valley is looking at a $12.9 million cut next school year. The neighboring St. Vrain Valley School District could see an $8.7 million cut, while Adams 12 is expecting a $16.6 million reduction.

Overall, the current proposal is to cut $332 million statewide from K-12 education next school year -- a significant change from the previous expectation of a small net increase for public schools for 2011-12.

"We're in a tougher budget situation than people had realized," said Boulder Valley Superintendent Chris King.

Still, Boulder Valley is in a better position than most Colorado school districts because voters in November approved a tax increase that raises property taxes equal to 25 percent of the school district's educational program, or about $22.5 million.

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Boulder Valley's plans for the tax-increase revenue called for spending about $6 million to restore previous budget cuts and about $6 million to backfill revenue lost from state budget cuts. Another $5.5 million is earmarked to increase teacher salaries, while $5 million is expected to go to an early childhood initiative that would add all-day kindergarten to three elementary schools and almost double preschool spots.

While the teacher salary increase and the early childhood initiative will both be funded, district officials said, it appears that the full $12 million will be needed to avoid making additional cuts.

"It's pretty close to being a balanced budget without restoring any cuts," said Boulder Valley acting Chief Financial Officer Bill Sutter.

The district also is looking to replace $3 million in one-time, federal money used this year to add teachers and keep class sizes lower. School board members generally were supportive of using the money that's expected to be leftover at the end of the school year, an estimated $3 million to $5 million, to address class sizes.

"We want to try to reduce workloads on teachers wherever we can," said school board member Tom Miers.